England were beaten 21-42 by a fired-up Ireland at Allianz Stadium, Twickenham on Saturday, as the visitors reinforced their standing in the Six Nations conversation.<\/p>\n
Here are our winners and losers from the game.<\/p>\n
Winners<\/p>\n
Stuart McCloskey<\/p>\n
In an era defined by the midfield prowess of Bundee Aki, Robbie Henshaw and Garry Ringrose, Ireland are desperately in need of new blood in the centres for the future. At the age of 33, McCloskey is not that but what he is is a very talented and very physical option for right now. With Ringrose to partner on a grey Twickenham afternoon, he proved that he can mix with the very best of them. He added real physicality to the 12 shirt, giving Ireland vital go-forward ball and was a constant threat in defence. Just ask Marcus Smith, whom he chased down like a cheetah rounding on a gazelle in the dying minutes. He made an Irish<\/a> high of 15 carries, completed 14 tackles and beat a remarkable five players. A tremendous display.<\/p>\n Robert Baloucoune<\/p>\n The 28-year-old has been away from the international arena for quite some time, but having last weekend regained the trust of head coach Andy Farrell, he truly justified Saturday\u2019s selection with some terrific breaks, including an assist for Tommy O\u2019Brien\u2019s try as well as getting on the scoresheet himself. With just six carries, he beat three men and made three line breaks, as well as making 11 tackles. Exactly what his boss would have hoped for.<\/p>\n Ireland player ratings v England: \u2018Superlative\u2019 half-back and \u2018Mr Defence\u2019 at the heart of \u2018performance of the ages\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n Jamison Gibson-Park<\/p>\n The nippy scrum-half directed the Irish attack with precision throughout. He expertly assessed the ragged English<\/a> defence early on to score Ireland\u2019s opening try, but was unfortunate to have his second score chalked off before the ink was even dry just minutes later after a penalty was called in the build-up. There\u2019s no denying that Ireland have struggled in recent times compared to their typically astronomical standards, but Saturday\u2019s performance showed just how important Gibson-Park is to a fully-firing Irish squad.<\/p>\n Ben Earl<\/p>\n England\u2019s performance was littered with mistakes, but Earl\u2019s wasn\u2019t. As often occurs with the greatest players, they step up when their team isn\u2019t on song. That\u2019s exactly what the back-rower did. He was the game\u2019s top carrier with 20, banging on the door as he looked to create a hole for his teammates to charge through. His efforts were in vain, however, as he struggled to make any more than 1.55 metres per carry. Although the result wasn\u2019t there, no one can knock his efforts.<\/p>\n Incredible Ireland shock Twickenham in Six Nations stunner as England embarrassed<\/a><\/p>\n Losers<\/p>\n Injured players\/referee<\/p>\n James Lowe appeared to clutch his leg as he shanked an uncomfortable clearance kick early on. Sure enough, his afternoon was over, and Farrell suggested post-game that the injury is \u201cnot good\u201d. On the other side, Alex Mitchell suffered a leg injury of his own just minutes later, limping off to be replaced by Jack van Poortvliet. As if this pandemic of leg injuries couldn\u2019t get any worse, the referee was next up. Andrea Piardi was forced off, much to his clear frustration, as the reins were handed over to his colleague Pierre Brousset,<\/p>\n England\u2019s cohesion<\/p>\n As a whole, they looked broken. It was a display of 23 players who appeared not to know each other. They were disjointed, didn\u2019t do the basics, and their first-half tackle success was only 67 per cent. The second half saw improvements within the ranks thanks to the arrival of Smith (he came on for the last minute of the first half) and Jamie George, but there was still little to be positive about from the hosts whose full-time tackle completion stat was 82 per cent.<\/p>\n England v Ireland: Five takeaways as Andy Farrell\u2019s \u2018radical\u2019 selections inspires Twickenham \u2018humiliation\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n Luke Cowan-Dickie<\/p>\n The Sale Sharks hooker struggled at the lineout and was quickly hooked by Steve Borthwick<\/a> as the England coach looked to shore up the set-piece. Only on the field for 29 minutes, his removal would have hugely affected his stock within the England ranks.<\/p>\n Freddie Steward<\/p>\n The full-back\u2019s day ended comically prematurely. Following a sin bin, which coincided with Ireland scoring 14 unanswered points, he returned to the field for only a matter of seconds before his number was called out. Smith was the replacement sent on as Borthwick desperately searched for a more attacking threat to counteract the existing Irish onslaught.<\/p>\n Want more from Planet Rugby? Add us as\u00a0a preferred source on Google to your favourites list<\/a>\u00a0for world-class coverage you can trust.<\/p>\n